Square [Enix] Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy was developed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) in Japan. This fantasy RPG set the standards for the rest of the franchise, and is said to be one of the most influential and successful RPG's on the NES. The game it self has been remade for many different platforms, and the franchise has released over a dozen different Final Fantasy sequals and branched off games.

The objective of this game is that you play as four young warriors, that are made up of a combination of warriors, thiefs, mages, and monks (this combination is any of your choosing as a player). You follow these youths, who each carry one of the four world's elemental crystals. Known as the light warriors because of their legendary crystals, they quest to defeat the evil that has darkened the elemental crystals, restore their light, and save their world. The world itself is a fantasy world (big shocker there I know, hence the title) that is made up of three large continents. You travel this world via foot, canoe, airship, and Chocobo (a mountable bird in the game). The world is made up of a numerous amount of races that include Humans, Elevs, Dwarves, Mermaids, Dragons, and Robots. The three continents include a numerous amount of towns, kingdoms, dungeons, and creatures that add an impacted story line and many accessories and abilities to purchase and add to your party.

Now one thing that is a characteristic of all Final Fantasy games is the random enemy encounters. This is a feature that I both really like, and extremely hate. That is when you are wandering around the world in the over world map view and while in dungeons, you will randomly encounter enemies and will be taking to a battle screen. Now, I like this because it adds a level of surprise to the game, something you are not prepared for. That though, can make it or break it for you. If you are in dire need of recovery or items, fleeing a battle could be your best choice. I also extremely hate this though, that is because it can be really aggravating and annoying when you run into an enemy ever few steps.

Also the game uses a menu system style game play for the battle screen. People might find this a little different, especially at the time, when the characters of the the game were more intractable. the fighting also follows a turn based style play as well. patients plus video games do not always go hand in hand though.

Another thing I really like about the game is how you can decide the members of your party. Every Final Fantasy fan will tell you that the solid plan is to pick Warrior, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage. For this lethal combo of tanks, healers, DPS (damage per second), and heavy hitters is a sure fire victory. But there is also the Monk and Red Mage in the game to add some difficulty from the noob party. For instance, I beat the game with the combination of the Warrior, Thief, White Mage, and Monk. Leaving out the sure fire heavy hitter that the Black Mage is, this added a level of difficulty to the game. You can even play with a party of all four of the same class type.

Now with the different class types, items, accessories, and spells, there is a level of strategy that can be put into the game. Not to mention the amount of detail it takes to just figure out where to go, when to go, and how to get there. A lot like Zelda, you are just thrown into the game with out much to rely on. You are given a back story at least and not completely screwed from the start like they did to you in Zelda. But you do not really have much of a clue on where to go first, they just assume that you will go to the nearest Kingdom (Coneria, where the game first starts) and move from there. Another really difficult part of the game is the dungeons. That is, with out a guide or a map for the game, you will wander around aimlessly until you either A) die from too many enemy encounters, or B) spent enough time using the cause and effect method of "if I use this ladder I go here, but this other ladder takes me there". You can spend countless hours alone just trying to navigate your way in and out of a dungeon. Do not get me wrong (all the die hard fans waiting to hatemail me) I really like the game and I am a big fan my self. But this can be extremely aggravating. Also, a little tip to all those new comers to the Finale Fantasy world, The save button will become your new best friend. Making sure you save often will help save those countless hours spent in a dungeons after your party gets defeated from a random enemy encounter that is too difficult for your party to handle. I really recommend a game guide to all those who run into difficulty playing this game. (Guides, cheats, walkthroughs)

From a different stand point though, you can see how this first installment of the series really set a standard for the future games to come, and those in the same genre of fantasy RPG. The importance of different items, abilities, and strategy can be seen in a lot of today's games. For instance in both games like Final Fantasy, and the new Skyrim, potions play a major factor in not only staying alive health wise, but also how much magic you put out in a fight. Resting to recover health, and knowing the weakness's of your enemies are also major components of games that started to catch on after the release of Final Fantasy.

All in all, the game is a classic and made a major impact in the history of gaming. I really recommend all those you want a good game that will make you think, and is also fun to play, to try this game out.

Lastly, Because of the improvement of the 16 and 32 bit games, compared to the 8 bit games that I have blogged about in the past, it is hard to find a "good" link to put up to send people to sit to play the games. Therefore, as a solution to the problem, I put up links to both gaming emulators and ROM's on the "Links to Games navigation bar". These are both easy to download and install. Any questions on the process of the emulators or ROM's, feel free to comment or email.

References:
http://wireless.ign.com/objects/680/680927.html
http://www.square-enix.com/na/title/finalfantasy/